Freedom of Information Act 2000 Request

Request regarding rape of Caucasian women By Black or Afro Caribbean? The crimes were they classed as a Racist Attack or rape data from Jan 1, 2017 to Jan 2019. The area that the Metropolitan Police force cover.

Request

Can you supply FOI regarding rape of Caucasian women By Black or Afro Caribbean? The crimes were they classed as a Racist Attack or rape?

What was the percentage of convictions?

On the 17 June 2020 you clarified that the data required was: -

In the following time frame - Jan 1, 2017 to Jan 2019. The area that the Metropolitan Police force cover.

Response

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has interpreted your request to be for the number of recorded offences of Rape, referred from the Metropolitan Police, in which the complainant is recorded to be of Caucasian ethnicity and the defendant is recorded to be of Black, or Afro-Caribbean ethnicity, between the time-frame specified.

The CPS does not hold a centralised record of data pertaining to cases involving an offence of rape. Under section 16 of the Freedom of Information Act we have an obligation to advise what, if any information may assist you with your request. The CPS holds data regarding the outcome of prosecutions, by Police force area, in cases that have been flagged administratively on the CPS Case Management System. The rape flag is applied at the onset of any case referred by the police to the CPS for a charge of rape; and remains in place even if the charge is not proceeded with, is amended or dropped. If a case is referred by the police for a charge other than rape but at a later date a charge of rape is preferred the flag is applied at that point. The London police force area covers both the Metropolitan and City Police organisations. This data is published annually, by financial year, in the CPS’ Violence against Women and Girls’ (VAWG) report available on the CPS website. Annual data is also published on the CPS’ website. The data held is not recordable by complainant or complainant characteristics. Data held pertaining to the ethnicity of a defendant is based upon the self-declaration of the information made to the police, and it is therefore subject to varying levels of error and omission. We therefore do not consider that full reliance can be placed upon the information held.

The CPS’ VAWG and Annual Reports can be accessed via the following links:

https://www.cps.gov.uk/publication/annual-reports-and-business-plans

https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/annual-violence-against-women-and-girls-report-published-0

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) holds and publishes the official statistics on prosecutions for the offence of rape. Data held by the MoJ can be found via the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice

Information Management Unit 020 3357 0788 IMU@cps.gov.uk